Swans’ midfielder Josh Kennedy believes the Sydney midfield has to aim up against the Kangaroos at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.
Kennedy told the media at the SCG today that his side are expecting a tough contest. If you saw their game last week, they had over 90 tackles. They are a really fierce side and we are not expecting anything less.
“We look at their midfield and know they’ve got a lot of good players that can go through there, but we think we match up pretty well. We back our guys that are going to rotate through the midfield and we think it’s going to be a good battle and one that often can determine the outcome of the game.”
Kennedy is conscious of Sydney’s incomplete efforts in the past weeks. Sydney are a win clear of the West Coast Eagles, but a slip up could see them out of the top two.
“We probably haven’t played a good four quarter effort against Carlton and the Gold Coast, but we will need to this week against a good opposition in North so hopefully we can put that together this weekend and get a good win.”
Sydney’s midfield is constantly growing depth with Tom Mitchell, Harry Cunningham and Luke Parker, all playing well. They hope to continue the scoreboard pressure and build the form of superstar Lance Franklin to higher levels.
Sydney will look for a more unified performance across the four-quarters as they try for their sixth straight win.
North Melbourne have motivation of their own, looking for redemption after last year’s 71 point preliminary final defeat to the Swans.
The Kangaroos recorded a tight win over third-placed West Coast last weekend, getting their season back on track following back-to-back losses against Fremantle and Collingwood.
Josh Kennedy suggested Kangaroos’ midfielders Andrew Swallow, Jack Ziebell and Shaun Higgins, will bring the same ferociousness.
This comes after the midfield trio made a healthy contribution to their sides 100 tackles, effectively taking the game away from the Eagles. – Marc Summers
Top photo taken by Vishnavi Kulentsirarasa
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